The Marauderess
by steph-allen
Summary: What if Remus had a twin sister, who was the brains behind most of what the Marauders got up to? What would have had to happen to her so that no one speaks of her anymore?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I started writing this maybe 4 years ago now, and it was posted on but I got stuck. I have rediscovered my inspiration for this story and will be fixing it up since my writing style has developed and improved since I wrote this. I hope you enjoy aand leave me a review of what you think and whether you'd want to read more of it

Chapter One- The Train

"Hey Beth. Beth, wake up." Remus let out a long suffering sigh as he stared down at the girl who was still tangled in her sheets, clearly asleep and likely to sleep through all of his best efforts to wake her. He raised his wand and winced, knowing that he was going to sorely regret what he was about to do, he muttered a charm and the next second the sound of a claxon filled the room and the girl, Beth, shrieked and fell unceremoniously to the floor, still tangled in her sheets.

"What the-" she grumbled and stood from the knot of sheets on the floor, not noticing the boy in the room,

"Morning Beth." Beth jumped again at the sound of his voice and went to grab her wand from her pocket before she realised that she was in her pyjamas, and her wand was probably still under her pillow. She swung round to face the voice and her face cracked into a grin,

"Remus! What on earth are you doing here? What if mum catches you? Especially with all the noise you've been making," her nose wrinkled, "or at least, all the noise you're making me make." Remus copied her expression at the mention of their mum, it had been a while since he'd spoken to, or had contact with their mother.

"She isn't here. I found this downstairs." He handed Beth a piece of parchment, which the girl unfolded and read, her expression turning to anger rather quickly, "Well? What did she say?"

"She said that she had to leave early for a meeting and she's made special arrangements with Professor Dumbledore so I can floo to school later on if I don't make the train, apparently he was very understanding about the whole situation and is aware that I'm not the best at getting up in the morning. She also said that if I do make the train and I see you and dad there I'm not to speak to either one of you because she doesn't want me to have 'that kind of influence in my life'." She crumpled up the parchment and threw it into the bin sitting in the corner and smiled to herself at the perfect shot. "What time is it anyways?" Remus looked down at his watch,

"Half past nine. We have plenty of time for you to eat, and pack, and still make it to the station on time. Well that is if you hurry." Beth let out a groan as Remus turned to leave her to get dressed, "And don't even think about going back to bed." She chuckled at how well he knew her and flopped back into her bed anyways, she had just closed her eyed when she fell to the floor with a slight thud, with the wind knocked out of her she lay there not willing to believe that he had actually just done that.

She got up from the floor, again, and made her way down to the kitchen where she could smell Remus burning toast in the grill. "You did not just vanish my bed." Remus turned around and smirked at his sister,

"I rather think you'll find I did. I did warn you not to go back to bed." His smirk changed into a grin at the glare she was shooting at him,

"You are aware that your toast is burning right?" it was her turn to smirk as he leapt up and pulled the charred toast out from under the heat, but he just turned around and shrugged,

"I already ate anyway, that was for you." Beth rolled her eyes and moved to do it herself, "Oh and that was the last of your bread. Sorry." With that he ran from the room, Beth sighed and trudged back up the stairs to get dressed and pack for the train.

She emerged an hour later with her trunk following behind her, she found Remus sitting in the living room with a book on his lap, "Rem, how come we can do underage magic here but not at Dad's?" Remus looked up and took in her floating trunk,

"We aren't supposed to use magic, you know that." Beth rolled her eyes,

"I know we're not meant to Rem, but how come we _can_, y'know without ministry men bursting in and arresting us or whatever." Remus frowned, his forehead crinkling with thought and frustration as he couldn't think the right answer,

"I guess it's because mum works there. But that shouldn't really make a difference. James' dad works for the ministry but he can't do magic there." Beth smirked at her brother knowing that he would now be on a research quest until he found the answers to the question she's unceremoniously dumped in his head he went on rambling to himself about the possibilities of what the reason could be, while she gathered her new, ginger kitten into his basket for the journey.

"Hey Remus, it's time to go." Remus quickly glanced down at his watch and found that she was right, he shrunk his book and stuffed it into his pocket and they both went over to the fireplace to floo to the station,

"Aren't you going to shrink that?" indicating the still floating trunk, Beth grinned,

"Yeah that probably would be a good idea, considering what happened last year."

Beth went through first and waiting for Remus on the other end, he had just stepped through when there was a flash of black hair and someone tackled Beth with a hug, "Sirius, get off me you great lump!" Sirius stood up and grinned down at the girl he'd just attacked, but instead of helping her up he turned to her brother and spun him around in a bear hug, while another black haired boy looked on amused,

"Sirius put me down you idiot!"

"Well you two are both in rather insulting moods today aren't you?" Sirius said this with a frown before he grinned and sped off, most likely to tackle another unsuspecting friend, leaving three of his friends standing laughing at his antics.

"Hey James, help me up?" Beth was still sitting on the floor waiting for someone to help her, the boy who had made his way over a lot slower than Sirius grinned and held out his hand for her. The train whistle sounded and the students remaining on the platform all made a mad rush for the compartment doors, "Where's Pete?"

"Oh we left him on the train to keep our compartment for us." Beth rolled her eyes at the typical answer; James and Sirius were always making him do things like that, "Lead the way then kind sir."

It took a lot of elbowing people out of the way until they finally made it back to the compartment they had left Peter in. "Hey Pete, how was your summer?" the usual conversation started up from there, discussing their summers, planning pranks and cramming in the last bits unfinished bits of homework.

"James I'm hungry." James, Sirius and Peter all dropped their quills in agreement that it was lunchtime, while Remus rolled his eyes and continued to read his book,

"Remy, you wouldn't happen to have any chocolate would you?" Remus' eyes involuntarily flicked to the bag on the rack above Sirius' head before he calmly closed his book and set Sirius with a withering look at James, Beth who had noticed his gaze flick up to his bag was just waiting to hear his answer before dropping him in it,

"No James, I don't have any chocolate-"

"LIAR!" Beth was on her feet pointing an accusing finger at her brother whose eyes grew wide as she climbed up onto the seat and pulled the bag down, she was back in her seat and tearing through the bag in search of the chocolate. Before she could get to it Remus had lunged at her and was grabbing for the bag but Sirius and James had other ideas, they knew that Beth would share and Remus had a reputation for being very possessive over his chocolate stores. Soon enough they were just a pile of bodies on the floor on the compartment, somehow Beth had managed to be sat on the top of the pile with the chocolate in her hand while the rest of the boys were wrestling over the bag.

That's what was happening in the compartment when Lily Evans walked in, another girl in their year who couldn't stand the marauders- except Remus- and didn't go to any lengths to hide the fact, it was a shame that James had chosen her to pursue for the past five years. "Er, Lupin?" Beth swivelled around on her perch, still munching on the chocolate,

"Yeah, she isn't looking for me Remy." James, who was on the bottom apart from Remus flushed red and sprang up and unseated Beth, who fell to the floor with a shriek, again.

"Oh, hey there Evans. How was your summer? Did you get all the homework done? Are you looking forward to our fifth year? Will you go to Hogsmeade with me?" Lily just rolled her eyes at the boy and turned her attention to the pile of boys still on the floor,

"Remus, we've got the prefects' meeting up the front. I thought maybe we could go together since we're both new at it."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about it, yeah I'll come with you." He shoved Peter and Sirius off him and turned to follow Lily out into the corridor, then he remembered about his chocolate and turned back and snatched it out of his sister's hand, he looked down at the bar and snapped off the bit she had been nibbling and gave her a disgusted look before throwing it to her, Sirius saw his opportunity and sprang up and caught it in his mouth, the rest of the compartment gave him the same disgusted look Remus had given Beth but Sirius just grinned and swallowed,

"I win."

"I just don't understand why you hang around with them Remus." Beth poked her tongue out at him as he looked at her and answered,

"No, neither do I Lily."

"Okay so now that he's gone we can get down to business. Sirius you wrote to me and said you thought you'd found something?" the boy nodded, and started going through his trunk to find whatever it was he'd found,

"What the heck?" Sirius was looking into the trunk in confusion, "Oh, this isn't my trunk. That explains these then." He pulled out a pair of Beth's knickers with a suggestive eyebrow wiggle,

"Put them back Sirius." Sirius pouted but did as she asked and slammed the trunk shut and pushed it out of the way so he could get to his own.

"Okay, found it." He jumped down off the seat and thrust a book at her, looking particularly proud of himself.

"Er, Sirius I don't know if you noticed this but this is written in runes." Sirius gave her a funny look,

"Of course I noticed that, I'm not just a pretty face y'know." Beth, James and Peter all snorted at that exclamation and James muttered,

"Not even a pretty face." Under his breath, Beth couldn't help but laugh at the look on Sirius' face, he looked like he was somewhere between outrage and tears,

"I still think you're pretty Sirius." Beth winked at the boy who grinned and stuck his tongue out at James. "Anyways, why do you think this is going to be useful? You didn't take runes." She had opened the book and from the looks of the contents page it would in fact be useful but she was still curious.

"." Sirius said it in such a rush and so quietly that Beth was sure she hasn't heard him right,

"Please tell me I head that wrong, tell me you didn't ask Evans for help with this!" When Sirius didn't answer Beth knew she hadn't been mistaken, "How could you do that? Did you just go right ahead and tell her everything? Why did you tell her you wanted to read the book? Did she not wonder why you, of all people, would want to read a book in an ancient language that you don't even understand the basics of?" Sirius opened his mouth to defend himself but Beth had already stormed out of the compartment and stormed down to the other end of the train.

She found a compartment that was full of luggage but had no one sitting in it; she went inside and sat to take a few deep breaths to calm herself down. She stood up to leave the compartment, feeling ready to go back to the boys and apologise about over reacting so that they could get back to work. But it seemed that someone had other plans, just as she went to open the door it opened itself and a boy she'd never seen before stepped inside, "Oh, sorry I thought this was my compartment."

"It probably was before I commandeered it, I was just going." The boy laughed and sat down,

"You don't have to; you are more than welcome to stay. It was getting a little lonely in here by myself." Beth smiled and sat back down, it wouldn't hurt to make the boys wait little longer for their apology; they were lucky to be getting one at all, Beth wasn't usually one to acknowledge when she made a mistake.

"So you're new here?" the boy nodded, "Well it's nice to meet you. I'm Bethany Lupin, but you can call me Beth."

"I'm Alexander Philips, but you can call me Alex." He said with a mocking sort of smile, "What year are you in?"

"Just starting fifth, you?" Alex made a face,

"Sixth, it would be that the first half decent person I've met isn't going to be in the same year as me." Beth raised an eyebrow,

"Half decent?" Alex blushed a little and Beth laughed, "Don't worry I'm not _that _offended. Who else have you met?" Alex mocked wiping sweat from his forehead before answering,

"Well I was mowed down on the platform by some kid with long black hair, but funnily enough I didn't catch a name." Beth sniggered,

"That would be Sirius Black; I got the same treatment, well assuming he then crushed you in a hug?" Alex shook his head, "No, I don't suppose he would have done that to a stranger. You must have just gotten between him and his real target."

"I think that's what it was; he practically jumped on a girl who looked like she was in first year. I was a bit worried but she was alright and seemed to know him." Beth frowned, she didn't realise that Sirius knew any of the first years, Alex must have seen the look on her face, "She was pretty small with bright pink hair?" Beth grinned,

"I completely forgot Nymphie was starting this year! Oh that'll make things fun around here. She's Sirius' cousin, or well she's his cousin's daughter so I think that still counts as a first rather than a second cousin." Alex shrugged,

"Sounds right, I've never been able to wrap my head around the difference. What house are you in?"

"Gryffindor; the home of the chivalrous and the brave. Where do you think you'll be going?" Alex shrugged again,

"I'm not sure. I met some guys down the end of the train when I was looking for a bathroom and they told me that the best house to be in was Slytherin but that Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad either. They said that Gryffindor is full of foolish and brash idiots and Hufflepuff is just a joke." Beth nodded, looking thoughtful,

"Long bright blond hair? Kind of looks like a bit of a snob?" Alex nodded, "Lucius Malfoy, he's a seventh year Slytherin and he's the biggest tool I know. Don't listen to him; Slytherins are sneaky little rich-boys who think they are so much better than everyone and too good for everything. Did he say anything else?" Alex looked confused as the door opened then closed of its own accord,

"Yeah he told me to there was a group of Gryffindor fifth years who I should try to avoid at all costs." Beth opened her eyes up wide and looked surprised to hear of such people in her year and house,

"Do tell me more about these heinous people." Alex gave her a funny look and she just gestured for him to continue,

"O-kay, well he said that there were five of them and they call themselves the marauders. Four boys and one girl and that they are known for attempting to pull stupid pranks on innocent people. He said that the boys are all prats but the girl is pretty good looking, and it's a shame she hangs out with those degenerates and then he said something about untapped potential." Beth nodded,

"Well he's right about most of that, but they do actually manage to pull off all of their pranks and they aren't always on innocent people, they're usually on the Slytherins and if anyone deserves a good pranking once in a while it's them. Other than that though, it's all true. The boys, complete idiots, they wouldn't have gotten half as far as they have in life without the girl, and she is extremely good looking. I mean all the girls are jealous of her and all the boys fight over her, it must be such a burden to be her." Alex was giving her that funny look again,

"Why do I get the feeling I've just met one of the marauders?" Beth grinned,

"Actually I'm pretty sure you've met a few more than one, accio cloak. Eavesdrop much boys?" the four boys in the compartment looked shocked; Peter, James and Sirius because they'd been caught and Alex because there were three invisible boys sitting listening to their conversation. "See you later Alex. Hope you get Gryffindor." She pushed the three boys out of the compartment in front of her and winked at the new boy.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2- Hogwarts and the Sorting

Sirius assured Beth that he hadn't told lily anything about Remus' condition and that she could rest assured that he would never tell anyone, "He hates that this many people know as it is so there is no way I would ever risk someone else finding out, I told Evans that my mother forbade me from touching this particular book and I wanted to know what she was trying to stop me from seeing. She told me how wrong it was of me to take it anyway and that I should put it back, and if mother doesn't want me to touch it then it's probably dangerous and for my own good. And-"

"Sirius its okay, I get it. I'm sorry I over reacted guys. You know how I am about Evans and the thought of her there with you guys while I was stuck at home all summer just got to me. Forgive me?" James grinned and Sirius pulled her into a one-armed hug, using his free hand to muss up her hair. Peter just smiled at her and handed her a chocolate frog from the pile next to him.

Peter spent the rest of the journey working on his Transfiguration homework with James' help while Beth and Sirius were looking over the book that Sirius had brought with him, "How did Evans even translate this? It isn't anything we've done it class! It's so much older than anything we've covered!" Sirius shrugged,

"The Potters had a really old runes dictionary and she used that to help with it." Beth rolled her eyes and resisted the urge to smack him on the back of the head,

"Well why didn't you bring it?"

"Mrs Potter saw me trying to pack it and asked why I needed it and I couldn't very well tell her that we're trying to become illegal animagi could I?" Beth sighed, knowing that he was right, but not willing to apologise twice in one train journey.

Remus arrived back at the compartment just as Sirius was shoving the book back into his trunk, they were nearly at Hogwarts and Remus had just finished his prefect duty. They sat and discussed the plan of action for the evening for the remainder of their time; Peter had just put his quill down when they stopped in Hogsmeade station. "Done!"

"Well done Pete! Just in time too." Peter smiled and packed his things back into his trunk.

They were soon in the carriages taking them up to the school, all of them silent as their home came into view for the first time since June.

Once they were finally in the entrance hall Beth wandered off and stopped where Professor McGonagall was speaking with Alex Philips about how the sorting will be happening. "Hi Minnie, how was your summer?" Alex looked shocked that Beth would speak to a professor like that, especially as fierce looking a one as Professor McGonagall, what surprised him more though was the fact that the professor's gaze softened and she smiled a little at the girl in front of her,

"It was quite uneventful, thank you for asking Miss Lupin. How was yours?" Beth was pretty surprised that she got away with calling the professor by the nickname given to her by the marauders, especially in front of a new student and all the first years. Although it was true that since Beth was always paying close attention in transfiguration and somewhat keeping the boys in line the professor had developed a soft spot for the girl, it was also partly because she knew all about the girl's home life- about how her mother had taken her away from her father and brother when she and Remus had been only five years old and how her parents treated each other and Beth and Remus now.

Wit was alright, but Minnie how many times do I have to tell you to call me Beth?" the witches lips curved into a smile, it was only slight and only for a second before she schooled her features back to her stern expression.

"How many times do I have to tell you that I'd really rather now", the professor turned to Alex, "I hope Miss Lupin and her friends didn't disturb your journey too much, they rather like their pranks." She couldn't help but notice that Beth hadn't introduced herself to the new student in the way that she normally would have, and assumed that they'd already met.

"No Beth just told me about the different houses and professors and even a few students to look out for."

"And the boys didn't bother you at all?" she seemed genuinely surprised about this, the last time there was a new addition to Hogwarts was a couple of years ago and the boys had pranked him about three times before they had even pulled into Hogsmeade station.

"Well Beth had a bit of a disagreement with them about someone called Evans because she was helping them with someth-" he stopped talking there because he noticed the look he was getting from Beth, he couldn't believe he'd put his foot in it already; he'd made one friend so far and he'd already pissed her off.

"Miss Lupin? You had a fight with the boys?"

"Well yeah but it was nothing, we're all good now so not to worry Minnie, your marauders are ready for business." With that she grinned at the professor and made her way back over to where the boys were waiting for her before going into the Great Hall. They had just settled into their places at the Gryffindor table when McGonagall came in carrying the hat and stool to place before the first years, Beth found herself thinking back to her own sorting rather than paying attention to the current one.

_**Flashback**___

The Hogwarts express was just pulling up to the station at Hogsmeade and everyone was crowding and pushing to get off the train, when they managed to get onto the platform Beth gasped. There was the biggest man she had ever seen standing with a lantern saying, "Firs' years this way, come on don' be shy, over 'ere." Remus whispered in her ear,

"That's Hagrid, he works at the school; I read about him in one of the textbooks." This reassured Beth and they walked over to the giant man. When he was satisfied that they were all there he led them down to a lake and said,

"No more'n four to a boat." Beth looked at her four friends and shrugged,

_"What could happen?" They all climbed into a boat, Remus had a feeling that it wasn't a good idea but kept his mouth shut.  
_

_When the boats started to move across the lake following Hagrid's, who was rowing his with a large paddle, James, Sirius and Peter all leant over the edge at the same side of the boat that was not a good thing. Suddenly the boat tipped and all five of them were plunged into the icy water, four of them came back to the surface quickly and with ease but the fifth occupant of the boat didn't come up as quickly._

_The boys started to splash around and were soon laughing and being fished out by Hagrid's paddle but Beth noticed that Peter wasn't with them, he hadn't come back up, and dove under the water to look for him, she spotted him quickly and went up for breath before diving under again to get him. It took her a few attempts; each time she went up for air she heard the rest of the first-years shouting and the girls screaming she could also hear Hagrid's shouts warning her that she better not go back under the water, she couldn't leave Peter though._

_None of the others had seemed to even notice that he was missing; all she heard when she went up were the shouts from her friends in the boats asking her what she was doing, finally on her fourth attempt she reached Peter and dragged him back up, she couldn't make it to Hagrid and she just started to push him into the boys' boat; they had just managed to get him in when the immense coldness from the water was finally too much and she stopped treading water. She slipped under the water and then everything was black._

__

She woke up, in what she assumed was the hospital wing, shivering and immediately heard the voices of her friends and brother; the only voice she couldn't hear was Peter's. He was still unconscious. A second after she woke up Professor Dumbledore came into the room,

_"What happened to them Hagrid?" she didn't want Hagrid to get into trouble so she sat up and said,_

"Please professor it wasn't his fault, he told us no more than four to a boat but I didn't listen and got into the boat with the boys." the old professor smiled and his eyes were twinkling, as if he was expecting this, even so he asked

"And how did you all end up in the lake?"

_"We were leaning over the edge, Peter, Sirius and me. Remus and Beth were sitting like normal people." James' voice answered before she had the chance._

_"We all fell into the water and came back up, except for Peter, I don't want to sound rude, but she was the only one who noticed; we were too busy messing about, we only noticed that she went back under. Even then we didn't realise until she was pushing him back into the boat." It was Remus' voice this time_

_"By that point she'd been in the water too long and she went unconscious and back under the water. Hagrid got her out again and brought her straight up here."_

_"Very well, Poppy, will she be able to attend the feast? The five of them still need to be sorted." The matron came bustling over to Beth's bed and took her temperature before giving her a potion that left her with hiccups "Yes she'll be fine, may have a bit of a cold though." She then went to Peter's bed and told them that he would be able to go down to the feast too._

__

They made their way down to the Great Hall to be sorted into their houses. When they got there Beth saw the Sorting Hat _'so a hat is going to decide where to put me for the next seven years?' __she wasn't particularly impressed, a strict looking witch stepped from her place at the teacher's table with a roll of parchment, "To complete our sorting, when I call your name you will come and sit on this stool and I will place the sorting hat on your head. It will place you in your house and you will join that table. Let us begin, Black, Sirius." There was clapping from the Slytherin table, they obviously thought that was where he was going. After a couple of seconds a rip opened at the base of the hat and it screamed,_

"GRYFFINDOR!" Slytherin table started to boo and there were many faces full of disgust, Sirius did look and when he saw those looks he just grinned wider, he wasn't one of them!

_"Lupin, Beth." '__Uh oh, has everyone else already been sorted then? Of course they were sorted when you were out cold' __she walked up to the front and pulled the hat on, as soon as she did so a voice filled her head_

"A Lupin? Not come across one of you for a while",

_'__Great, hurry up will you? I'm starving.'_

_"Well, well, well that's not nice is it? You would suit Gryffindor well, took a lot of loyalty and bravery to go back under that cold water in the lake, and to save a friend you made only today? Well that certainly does make you a Gryffindor. However you have the mind of a Ravenclaw, also the cunning of a Slytherin, don't think you'd do so well in Hufflepuff mind you, not such a nice person."_

___'You expect me to be nice? You're telling me I should be a Slytherin! Why would I be nice?'_

_"Well then why don't you choose where to go?"_

___'Because that's what you're here for, you can't just not sort the people you don't want to and leave it up to them!'_

_"Fine then, I suppose that's true enough, SLYTH-" she heard distant booing mixed with cheering,_

___'What are you doing? I'm not a Slytherin!'_

_"You told me I should choose"_

_'__And you will, just choose the right house!'_

_"And what one would that be? Could it be RAVEN-" it was just cheering she heard that time,_

___'Are you sure, do I really seem like a Ravenclaw to you?'_

_"No but you wouldn't accept my first answer." Beth smiled, the hat was starting to get frustrated, she never thought she would encounter a talking hat, let along be a source of frustration for one, _

___'Well if you would just pick the right one then we wouldn't have this problem would we?'_

_"Fine then, we already decided you aren't a Hufflepuff and you don't want to be a Slytherin or Ravenclaw that just leaves one option, GRYFFINDOR!"_

___'Good hat, well done' w__hen she emerged from the inside of the hat there was an eruption of cheers before she joined Sirius sat at the loudest table._

_"Lupin, Remus." Remus took his place under the hat and heard that same voice his sister had,_

_"You aren't going to be a problem as well are you Mr Lupin?"_

___'I was going to ask about that, what took you so long?'_

_"She wouldn't tell me where she wanted to go, said it was my job but she still wouldn't accept my choice."_

___'Well that is what you're here for; it's your job to sort us all."_

_"GRYFFINDOR" and that was that. James and Peter both got sorted into Gryffindor as well. When they were all sitting happily together at the Gryffindor table with the other members of the house Dumbledore stood up and said,_

_"Well that was certainly interesting, tuck in everyone."_

__**_End Flashback_**

She became aware of something nudging her in the arm and calling her name, "What d'you want?" James just shrugged in response and Beth rolled her eyes at the boy,

"Nothing."

"Well stop poking me then!"

"I was just wondering what you were thinking about? You were pretty zoned out for the sorting."

"I was remembering our sorting, y'know the one we missed because you lot decided to dump us in the lake in September! It was just so weird, we haven't seen another one quite like ours since have we?" James smirked at her,

"You haven't paid attention to one since ours." Beth tilted her head to the side considering his argument,

"That's true, but I think I would notice if something like ours happened again." Sirius snorted,

"How would you even know? You were unconscious for the majority of our sorting, you were only awake for your own and then you stopped paying attention." She gasped, outraged at the accusation,

"I'll have you know I paid attention to where Remus was going, I think I was horrified by the thought that he could be in Ravenclaw." Remus got a faraway look on his face,

"What an easy life I could have had." They spent the next few minutes reminiscing about their sorting and the events that took place prior to trying on the hat,

"I still can't believe you made us all fall in the lake!" the boys all laughed at her exclamation, apart from Peter. He didn't like to think about that night; he'd been saved from drowning by a girl he'd just met a few hours ago and then when they'd been in the hospital wing the rest of the boys all crowded around her bed and left him on his own at the other side of the room. He'd heard them explaining what had happened, none of them knew he was even awake; no one had noticed since they were all too busy worrying about Beth, even though he had been under the water for a lot longer than she had seeing as she had only dived under a couple of times to get him whereas he hadn't surfaced at all. He heard them telling the professors that they hadn't even noticed that he hadn't come back up with the rest of them, none of them noticed apart from Beth. He was grateful to her for saving him but it didn't stop him from being embarrassed about it whenever the Slytherins brought up how he had needed to be saved by a _girl_.

The hall was beginning to clear; just the older students were left sitting at the long tables. Beth was just managing to control her laughter when a certain blond haired Slytherin slid onto the bench next to her, she turned to him with a slightly disgusted look on her face, and Professor McGonagall had started to rise from her seat at the head table but Professor Dumbledore put a hand on her arm and smiled. "What do you want Malfoy?" he smirked at her,

"I would have thought that would be clear by now, I want you to realise your potential and be with the people who can get you to where you will flourish." Beth raised an eyebrow at the boy,

"Oh really? And who might these people be?" Lucius smiled,

"My fellow Slytherins and myself of course, who else would it be?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe someone I could actually stand to be around?" Lucius leaned closer to her but she stayed put, not willing to back down from him,

"I think you'll come around." Before he pulled away he kissed her on the cheek, causing the third years next to them to blush and giggle, Beth snorted and looked Lucius in the eye. He misinterpreted her defiant look for something else; something much more encouraging, and leaned in. She let him and just as he closed his eyes she shoved a bowl of mashed potatoes into his face. McGonagall smiled a little at the head's table, before rising out of her seat and slowly making her way down to the Gryffindors, Lucius had been bothering the girl since she was a first year and the older witch was proud of her for standing her ground, even after his constant pursuit of her.

By the time she got to where the marauders were sitting Lucius was angrily storming back over to the Slytherin table where Narcissa Black was waiting with a napkin to get rid of the worst of the mash. James found the temptation too difficult to resist though and subtly pulled his wand out under the table and sent a tripping hex at the blond, who stumbled but didn't fall, he cast a dirty look in the Marauders' direction and continued on his way. This time it was Sirius who was unable to stop himself and summoned the bench where the other boy was about to sit, causing him to topple over backwards and his face to turn red.

He turned and started back towards the Gryffindor table but the dark-haired boy next to him stopped him with a few words which caused the older boy to smirk and sit back down, letting Narcissa dab his face with the napkin. This exchange went unnoticed by the marauders who were getting a stern talking to by Professor McGonagall, it also went unnoticed that the Slytherins had formed a small huddle and were clearly discussing something- probably to do with what had just happened and a way to get back at the marauders.

"I'm afraid the three of you will have to serve detention for your actions, it was largely unprovoked and you all know the rules about using magic in the corridors." The boys were surprised about how calm she was about the whole thing, usually for something like this she would have been shouting at them for behaving in such a manner that was unbecoming to the Gryffindor house, but they just assumed it was because of Beth.

After a few minutes Professor Slughorn waddled his way down to where they were standing, "I hope you are properly and fairly punishing these five Minerva, they did attack one of my most promising students." Beth rolled her eyes, which didn't go unnoticed by Professor Slughorn, "Ten points from Gryffindor for your attitude young lady." She found it very difficult to stop her natural reaction to that- to roll her eyes, but she managed.

"Horace they are being dealt with and Miss Lupin, Mr Potter and Mr Black will all be serving detention with Hagrid in the grounds tomorrow night." Slughorn nodded,

"And what about these two? Are they to be let off without punishment for their part in all of this?" Remus and Peter looked a little bit startled, as far as they knew they hadn't had a part in the evening's entertainment.

"Mr Lupin and Mr Pettigrew did nothing wrong and therefore will not be punished." Professor Slughorn looked like he would have liked to argue with her but slightly withered under the witch's steely glare. It was quite well known throughout the Hogwarts staff that the potions professor didn't appreciate the pranks of the marauders and would occasionally punish them a little too severely for their actions.

McGonagall dismissed them and they didn't need telling twice before they turned and ran from the Great Hall with Sirius announcing a race back to the common room.

"Sirius, I'm hungry." Beth's complaint was met with shocked looks from all four boys,

"How can you possibly be hungry? You've been eating all day, we just had a feast!"

"Well exactly, I've been eating all day so I'm used to being constantly full and now that I've stopped I'm hungry and need to be fed again." James' faced scrunched up as he tried to figure out the logic but he couldn't and just shrugged,

"What would you like me to do about that Beth?" she looked at him with a puppy dog look,

"Take me down to the kitchens?" they had already discussed that they would need a rune dictionary to decipher the transfiguration book that Sirius had found and Beth knew that the best place to find one would be in the Room of Requirement, the trip to the kitchens was just code for that. Sirius looked like he was going to refuse so Beth intensified the puppy-dog eyes and he relented and stood to leave, they had already shrunk the book and it was in the pocket of his robes.

"Why are you wearing your robes? You don't have to be in uniform anymore… especially considering it's after curfew." Sirius glanced at Beth for an answer that wouldn't be suspicious. She just shrugged,

"It's cold out there Remy." And she turned and left through the portrait hole.


End file.
